In the Media

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is proposing more strict rules about the amount of more than 100 toxic chemicals that can be released into waters of the state, which could impact a handful of cities like Prineville as well as agricultural or forestry operations in the future

Bend’s $58 million surface water project is actually quite small. Providing just 7.6 million gallons per day (mgd) of reliable capacity, the project will hardly dent Bend’s long-term demands, which will be supplied almost entirely by wells in any event.

Unless someone else pays for it, the city of Bend seems poised to delay adding a $13 million hydropower plant to a $58 million reconstruction of its Bridge Creek water system that aims to replace aging infrastructure and meet federal mandates.

A $58 million to $73 million reconstruction of Bend's Bridge Creek water system will undergo some additional scrutiny over the next week as opponents of the project, city officials and various experts dissect and analyze the merits of the overhaul during two upcoming public forums.

Some 450 acres along Whychus Creek northeast of Sisters will be preserved as prime habitat for steelhead reintroduction.

The city of Bend could face enforcement action from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality if officials here can't fix a glitch in the municipal water system that occasionally dumps large amounts of sediment into Tumalo Creek.

A U.S. Forest Service plan to create a central Oregon wetland from the Deschutes River has drawn protests from local irrigation districts who say the project will suck off water from irrigators downstream.

It’s no surprise, really: The Bend community remains mired in the muck over how to pay for the dredging of Mirror Pond (“Fixing Mirror Pond demands a new look, officials say,” The Bulletin, Dec. 26).

Officials from local government and the private sector recently teamed up to hire someone who they hope can find a solution to the long-standing sedimentation problem in Bend’s Mirror Pond.